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Overall Rating

excellent drill - light as many 14 volt drills but with a lot more power
There are lighter compact drills I own including the Makita 452 and the Milwaukee 2601, but unlike these two drills the DeWalt provides performance comparable to its bigger siblings, the DCD940 and DCD970. For optimum performance the DCD960 model has 20 volts of lithium-ion power and will provide a little extra power in tough drilling situations.

I commend DeWalt in not skimping on the drill construction or the battery. DeWalt chucks grip better than any other drill I have used. They never loosen up even when boring through stucco, lath, and OSB for a dryer vent.

The grip is man-sized and for me that means I do not accidentally push in the forward/reverse button the way I frequently would do with the Makita BDF452. I checked the DeWalt drills I have and the Milwaukee 2601 and both provide about 3/8 space from the top of my forefinger and the forward and reverse button. With the Makita there is less than 1/8″ and that is without gloves on. Add gloves and I am hitting the button all day long. The Makita seems to have been designed by Japanese engineers with hands on the small side. On the other hand this may be why the Makita’s are popular with so many women.

Battery charge times are average for NiCads and this is a good thing. Faster charge times heats batteries and shortens their life which is an expense I would just as soon avoid.

Something to know is that the 550 rated drills provide a lot more power than the 400-450 rated drills. One would think that a 550 would provide only about 20-25% more power than a 450 rated one but the difference is far greater and jobs that the big drills can handle without any difficulty can stop on of the 400 rated drills cold. Using the full size batteries from the manufacturer helps offset this to some degree so compact drills with full size batteries are a good middle ground.

The gearbox on the DeWalt drills is not the smoothest in operation but it is the most durable. We really work our drills hard and have not had a problem with any of our DeWalt drills’ gearboxes while we have had many of our Makita’s bite the dust.

Some of this is probably due to misuse. It pays to use the low speed range in tough drilling as it puts less stress on all the drill’s components. It also pays to use modern hole saws instead of bi-metal hole saws. When I can cut a hole in 5 seconds instead of 50 seconds I am not only saving time but I am putting 1/10 as much stress on the drill. The modern big gullet hole cutters also make it possible to cut a hole 3 times as big with the same drill which is great if you prefer cordless drills to big cord stud drills.

BLUE BOAR 5-1/4″ (133mm) Self-Feed TCT 2-1/4″ deep multipurpose Tungsten Carbide hole cutter outperforms self-feed bits & bi-metal hole saws. Cut wood, MDF, OSB, laminates, Hardie & chipboard, plaster, drywall, brick, Formica

Overall Rating

A bit overrated….
Rated 3 stars.